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BULLETIN OF THE EXTENSION 
DIVISION, INDIANA UNIVERSITY 



Entered as second-class mail matter at the post-office at Bloomington, Indiana, under the 
act of August 24, 1912. Published monthly, by Indiana University, from the University office, 
Bloomington, Indiana. 



Vol. I 



BLOOMINGTON, IND. 



No. 4 






f^/^^mx 



INl 



\o] 



/VERITAS^ 

The Community Schoolhouse 



Bibliography, Notes, List of Lantern Slides 



DECEMBER, 1915 



Wono^rapn 



University Extension Division 



■ The Extension Teaching Service of the Indiana University Exten- 
sion Division includes correspondence-study, class-study, club-study, 
and lecture courses. These activities are designed to offer some of 
the advantages for culture and instruction within the University to 
persons who are not enrolled as resident students. 

The Public Welfare Service of the Extension Division includes col- 
lecting and lending package libraries, exhibits, and lantern slides; 
compiling and publishing informational circulars and bulletins; organ- 
izing and directing institutes, surveys, conferences, discussion leagues, 
and extension centers; and giving cooperative assistance to clubs, civic 
societies, public boards, and to other community agencies. 



Visual Instruction. Lending lantern slides, motion pictures, art 
collections, and topical exhibits is a part of the work of visual instruc- 
tion of the Public Welfare Service of the Extension Division. Circulars 
of information descriptive of the material of visual instruction with 
rules for borrowing will be furnished on request. 

It is aimed to develop the work of visual instruction so as to fur- 
nish an increasingly varied and valuable equipment for the use of 
schools, libraries, and clubs whenever they require illustrative mate- 
rial as a supplement to regular instruction or as a part of a program 
of entertainment. This aim recognizes the desirability of extending 
the instructional facilities of schools and other organizations to include 
materials not easily obtainable by them individually, and the desirabil- 
ity, also, of contributing to the growing tendency toward community 
provision for non-commercial entertainment. 

Just as maps, illustrations in textbooks, and various kinds of speci- 
mens and instruments in laboratories are necessities in well-conducted 
schools of the present day, so the time is coming when lantern slides, 
motion pictures, paintings, and topical panel exhibits will be common 
as necessary instruments of regular instruction. So also community 
organizations, aided by the University and other public agencies, will 
increase their efforts to secure concerts, dramatic productions, illus- 
trated lectures, travelogues, and other entertainment for the common 
benefit. Such tendencies working for the enrichment of community 
life may well be encouraged. It is hoped that the material of visual 
instruction provided by the Public Welfare Service may help in the 
improvement of both school instruction and community entertainment. 

Address all communications to the 

Extension Division, Indiana Univeesity, 

Bloomington, Ind. 

D^ of ^^.^ 

APR 2 1917 






Contents 



PAGE 

Prefatory Note 4 

The Community Schoolhouse: Lecture Notes 5 

SufiGESTIONS FOR StUDY — 

Definition of community centoi- . :'. 16 

Origin of the social center 16 

The need of community centers 17 

Specific functions and activities of centers 17 

Principles of foundation 17 

Organization of community centers 18 

Indiana school law 19 

Community center buildings 19 

Results of community center activities 19 

Bibliography 20 



Prefatory Note 



This bulletin is offered as a suggestive aid to those who are inter- 
ested in the "social center" movement in Indiana. It is not intended 
as a lecture to be read to an audience, but is meant to indicate how 
the set of lantern slides listed may be made the basis of lectures by 
local social workers. The notes were purposely written as explana- 
tions of the individual slides, consequently they do not constitute a 
coherent lecture. Borrowers may rearrange, add, or subtract to suit 
the. purpose of their own lectures. The slides will be lent for one week 
free of charge to any school, library, or club in the State. Borrowers 
are urged to study carefully the sources of information given in the 
bibliography, to familiarize themselves with the illustrations, and to 
prepare the lecture so as to be independent of the printed notes. 

The Extension Division has two other sets of lantern slides which 
have a bearing on the community center idea: "Playgrounds" and 
"The Social Center". The latter set was arranged by Edward J. 
Ward, author of the well-known book on that subject and a pioneer 
in the movement. The suggestive lecture which accompanies the slides 
was written by him. 



The Community Schoolhouse: Lecture Notes' 



By W. S. BiTTNER, Secretary of Public Welfare Service 



It has been said that education is the foundation of democracy. 
If citizenship in a democracy means full personal and social develop- 
ment with real freedom in "the pursuit of happiness" there must be 
a wide interpretation of the fundamentals of education and an exten- 
sion of the methods in school procedure sufficient to enable every per- 
son to acquire that education which fits him for broad living. 

Our scliools should serve to liberate the best community forces, 
develop community resources, and foster social unity. In the light 
of such a broad purpose, physical training, inculcation of morals, edu- 
cation in civic duties, and education in recreation are as legitimate 
functions of the school as is vocational training or the teaching of 
the three R's. The "prime purpose" of the school building or grounds 
cannot be arbitrarily designated in terms of past experience and 
antiquated laws; it must be reasonably determined with reference to 
all the exigencies of a rich community life. Certainly if one reason 
alone could justify the use of schools as community centers, it would 
be that no single community agency has undertaken generally the 
task of providing education in recreation and in practical civics, — in 
tlae intelligent use of leisure, in thoro training for practical citizen- 
ship. The community center movement aims to make the school serve 
the neighborhood and the nation in the broadest and completest 
sense. Says Mr. H. R. Knight: "Young people go wrong during 
their leisure hours. While at work or at study their thoughts 
and actions are controlled by their tasks. When free to do what 
they will they may or may not make the right use of their 
time. The state undertook the support of schools in order to insure 
the upbringing of moral citizens. Free schools have been in existence 
over a century and a half and now people are beginning to question 
their ability to inculcate morality. At a teachers' convention in Al- 
bany, Dr. Lyman Abbott said: 'Crime in the United States is growing 
faster than the population, in spite of our puhlic school education.' 
The school session does not cover that period of the young person's 
day when his character is being most actively formed. That is the rec- 
reation time. 'The boy without a playground is father to the man with- 
out a job,' said Joseph Lee. I believe it is equally true that the girl 
without a social center is mother to the woman without a home. 
Today we may have grafters in our common councils and dishonest men 
in our city oflnces because years ago our municipalities did not see to 
it that all the boys and girls played the games of youth in the proper 
way." 



'Some of the lantern slides and explanatory notes were furnished by Mr. H. R. Knight of th 
Russell Sage Foundation. 

2—5837 (5) 



6 Bulletin of the Extension Division 

Education is a public function in a democracy. Social center activ- 
ities can be made important factors in education. Recreation is recog- 
nized as an essential factor; accordingly community recreation be- 
comes community business; it cannot be left to individuals. Few 
fathers can provide their sons with playgrounds. Many mothers fail 
to make social centers of tlieir homes for their daughters. Just as it 
is beyond the ability of the average family to give its children the 
right kind of schooling at home, so is it beyond its power to provide 
them with the right kind of recreation. 

The free school has provided formal schooling for the children; it 
is now coming forward with a provision for social education for both 
the young and old. The free school is broadening its scope to include 
social centers. On account of its location the schoolhouse is a nat- 
ural and convenient center of a neighborhood. When the neighbor- 
hood is properly organized, the schoolhouse social center brings the 
whole family together for its recreation, for intelligent use of its 
leisure time. 

Nearly all large cities, hundreds of small cities and towns, and 
numerous rural communities are developing social centers, and an 
ever-increasing number of school boards are now extending their wise 
direction over the plai/timc of young people. 

The lantern slides in this set are selected from photographs taken 
in places widely scattered over the United States. 

In New York City the Board of Education maintains evening recre- 
ation centers in several scores of school buildings. If you should go 
into one of the main centers you would be likely to find groups play- 
ing games and training for athletics, and perhaps see a crowd of young 
men and boys watching a boxing match between two well-trained 
athletes. 

Li. 169. New York, N. Y. — Recreation Center (Public School No. 41.) 

Boxing and similar exercises not onlj' develop the body but leave 

permanent effects upon the character. They promote persistency 

of purpose and bodily control. In the New York school centers the 

young men devote considerable time to basketball. 

Ij. 72. Chicago — Basketball. Kindergarten Room. 

In this picture the young woman is referee. She is also a social 
center director. The city which maintains sports like these is 
setting up a powerful counter-attraction to street loafing, to sa- 
loons, and to inferior commercialized recreation. 

S. A. 120. Chicago Field House — Swimming-Pool. 

Every schoolhouse should have a swimming-pool. Several In- 
diana towns of only a few thousand population have swimming- 
pools and other bathing facilities in their schools. About one-third 
of the New York centers are devoted to the exclusive use of the 
girls. The girls also play basketball, but the activity into which they 
enter with the greatest enthusiasm is folk dancing, the old-world 
combination of rhythmic movement and music in which the girls 
arrange themselves in parallel lines to step and glide thru simple 
and complicated figures. 



The Community Schoolhotjse 7 

"Folk dancing represents the maximum of benefit with the mini- 
mum of expense. Exliilarating, sociable, imparting grace, exercising 
all the muscles, quickening the important bodily functions, requiring 
small space per person, and economical of teaching material — its in- 
troduction has changed the aspect of life for thousands of girls and 
it may be preparing heritages of rhythm and color for unborn gener- 
ations." (Clarence A. Perry, department of recreation, Russell Sage 
Foundation.) > 

, 90. New York — Evening Recreation Center (Folk Dance). 

An important member of the staff in every girls' center is an 
instructor in this delightful and invigorating art. Besides the 
more lively games, the girls, as well as the boys, are able to enjoy 
the less strenuous but more sociable amusement furnished by chess, 
dominoes, authors, and similar games. 

, 146. Boston Games Club — Community Schoolhouse (Quiet 

Games) . 

In the classrooms, meeting-places for clubs are afforded. Both 
the boys and the girls have their own literary, athletic, and debat- 
ing societies. The club director and organizer is kept busy going 
from room to room assisting in the preparation of programs and giv- 
ing instructions in parliamentary practice. Only young people above 
school age are admitted to the New York centers. One exception 
to this rule is made. If the child comes bringing some books and a 
study card signed by a day-school principal he is admitted to a class 
room up-stairs. , 

. 83. New York — Evening Recreation Center (Girls' Study-room). 

Here under the supervision of a competent teacher who answers 
legitimate questions, school children are afforded a well lighted and 
comfortable place to study, conveniences which many of them are 
not able to obtain at home. The roofs of many of the New York 
schools are also play centers during the summer evenings; the boys 
play indoor baseball or basketball, while the girls dance and sing 
from 7:00 until 10:00 to the music furnished by a band of five 
pieces. 

The wider use of the school plant is bringing about a change in 
the school structure. This is illustrated in the plans of the Emerson 
School at Gary, Ind. This edifice was planned with a view to having 
it used by the community. In the basement there are not only domes- 
tic science and manual training rooms, but also a swimming-pool and 
two gymnasiums, one for the boys and one for the girls. On the first 
floor is a large auditorium so placed that it can be entered without 
passing the classrooms. The hall will seat 824 persons, and can be 
used for lectures, dramatics, and other community purposes. The 
stage is equipped with footlights and drop curtain, and all its ap- 
pointments conform to the Chicago fire ordinances. 

The Emerson school is a good illustration of the modern school- 
house built to serve not only children but adults as well. Its capa- 
cious domestic science rooms are large enough for banquets and 
other occasions expressing neighborhood sociability. 



8 Bulletin of the Extension Division 

li. 50. Gary, Ind. — Emerson School (Juniors Entertaining Seniors). 
The manual training work is arranged so that the boys can make, 
in the shops, the boats, aeroplanes, and other toys which they use 
in the well-organized playground work. Besides the six-acre play- 
ground at the rear of the school and the two gymnasiums, the school 
is also equipped with a swimming-pool which is used not only by 
the children but by adults as well. In such a rich environment it is 
not strange that the regular school work which is carried on there 
should overflow into delightful evening playlets which entertain the 
whole family. 

L. 144. Boston, Mass. — Minstrel Club (High School). 

Few Boston schoolhouses have as large a stage as the Emerson 
school, but amateur dramatics flourish. The stage of the auditorium 
in the Gary schoolhouse is exceptional as are most of the appoint- 
ments of the building. The community is so well satisfied with the 
Emerson building that it has now put up another of the same type, 
the E'roebel School, equipped with two swimming-pools, two gym- 
nasiums, and an eight-acre playground in the rear. 

In schoolhouses not built to provide for social center activities, 
makeshifts are resorted to. Every city cannot have the wonderful 
buildings Gary has — not for some time to come — but that need not 
prevent social center development. Most old school buildings have 
spaces which can be made available by the use of cheap chairs in 
halls, offices, and classrooms. 

S. O. 41. Rochester, N. Y.^ — Civic Club (Adults). 

The fixed desks and seats in the classrooms of the old-fashioned 
schoolhouse are frequently not large enough for the adults and older 
boys and girls. Fixed desks are uncomfortable for adults. Such 
desks as these make it hard to utilize the classroom for social cen- 
ter purposes. 

In Rochester where the social center movement reached such a 
distinctive development, a new school seat has been contrived which 
does away with these difficulties. The use of the Moulthrop Movable 
School chair which is not fixed to the floor, and which has a drawer 
for books under the seat, facilitates the proper sanitation of the 
room. These chairs can be rearranged in one minute. The school 
work itself takes on a new flexibility and variety in a classroom 
equipped with these chairs. 

If the substitution of movable desks and seats entails too great 
an expense, the old desks may be mounted by fours on skids. This 
arrangement makes it possible to clear a room with little difficulty. 
The space set free can be used for all sorts of social center activities. 

S. O. 25. Rochester, N. Y. — New Citizens' Banquet. 

This picture shows how a gymnasium may be put to good use in 
in a novel way. The guests at the banquet were immigrants who 
had obtained their final citizenship papers. 

S. C. 26. South Bend, Ind. — Civic Club. 

This view shows how a school hall may be made to serve as a 
meeting place. 



Tpie Community Sciioolhousb 9 

S. C. 40. — Louisville, Ky. — Girls' Club. 

Here is a photograph of a meeting under difficulties. The rooms 
in the building have been cleared of fixed seats and space has been 
made available for groups of various sizes. 

The following slides show some of the social center provisions for 
boys. 

L. 28. Philadelphia, Pa. — Woodwork Club (Social Center). 

Even a one-room rural school can supplement the ordinary cur- 
riculum with play and interesting handwork. The farmer's boy takes 
to woodwork as readily as the city boy if he is shown the fun of it 

L. 38. Pueblo, Col. — Newsboy's Club (School Center). 

Carrying newspapers is often dangerous work for boys. A 
social center club may safeguard them in many ways: it binds 
them together around their common interests; it provides for co- 
operation and for interest in things more wholesome than the temp- 
tations of the street. 

L. 104. Columbus, Ohio — Boys' Games (School Center). 

Idleness, running the streets, confinement to the "yard" after 
school, imposition of unsuitable tasks, — all result in harm to the 
growing boy. In the afternoon and the early evening the school- 
house should offer a place for work and play under supervision. 

L. 71. Chicago- — School Center Reading-room. 

Classrooms should be used continuously and not merely for reg- 
ular work. 

N. E. 89. Meadow Township School, Iowa. 

Tlie boys of this rural school have regular competition with 
neighboring schools. The center carries on numerous activities for 
patrons as well as pupils. 

N. E. 90. Iowa Consolidated School — Manual Training. 

A rural school can secure extensive equipment if the community 
realizes its value. The shops should be used freely, not limited to 
class work. 

Ij. 106. Columbus, Ohio — Boys' Club (Parliamentary Practice). 

Preparation for public speaking and civic discussion should be- 
gin early. 

N. E. 93. Silver Township Special School, Iowa. 

These boys had all left school for various reasons. A special 
agricultural class was organized for them and they were also 
brought into the general social activities of the school center. 

N. E. 102. Richmond Rural School, Iowa. 

The school holds regular fairs. These products were collected 
and arranged by the boys' club. 

L. 64. Jersey City, N. J. — Social Center (Physical Training). 



10 Bulletin of the Extension Drision 

N. B. .153. Diagram — Food of Common Birds. 

This slide is part of a chart prepared for use of a boys' bird club 
in a Chicago social center. It has been used in the same way in 
Pennsylvania and Iowa. Nature study may be made both interest- 
ing and profitable. 

The following slides suggest some social center provisions for girls. 

L. 32. Philadelphia, Pa. — Polk Dancing at Social Center. 

Folk dancing is a combination of physical and aesthetic exercise. 
It develops bodily grace and poise and stimulates the imagination. 

Lf. 56. Detroit, Mich. — Capron Community Center (Cooking Class). 

There are several consolidated schools in Indiana which have 
even better domestic science equipment than the Detroit schools. 
Some of them give extension courses to young women not attending 
school. 

L. 37. Pueblo, Col. — Riverside Social Center ("Tea"). 

Group education, training in social activities, exercises in the 
give and take of numbers occupied in common interests — such "so- 
cialization" is essential to the process of making good citizens. 

L. 67. East Boston, Mass. — Social Center Sewing Club. 

Club work for girls avoids the usual formality of domestic 
science in the classroom; it makes possible the free plav of interest. 
In training for homemaking it must not be forgotten that the home 
is more and more coming to include the neighborhood, the city. 
State, and nation, and that women must "mother the community". 
For' instance, home cannot be clean unless the city is clean; there- 
fore city functions like street cleaning, garbage disposal, medical 
and sanitary inspection, sewer construction, water supply, and so on 
indefinitely, must be the concern of the homemakers, the women. 
Moreover, the spirit of the home must be made to dominate the 
entire community; mothers and daughters must know community 
needs, share in the improvement of city conditions, and introduce 
into the common life of the citizens the spirit of generosity, kindli- 
ness, charity, interdependence, and cooperation. Consequently social 
center activities for girls should be sufficiently comprehensive to 
include not only domestic science but community civics, just as the 
activities for boys and young men should include a rich range from 
manual training to practical politics. 

S. C. 96. Salt Lake City, Utah — Woman Election Clerk. 

Training for citizenship should begin with the children; only 
thru such training will they grow into capable women. 

The following slides suggest social center activities for young men. 

L. 46. Chicago — Young Men in a Drill (School Center). 

With the shortening of work hours has come an increase of lei- 
sure; young men require interesting avocations to keep their poise 
and to increase their efficiency as members of the group. Physical 



The Community Schooli-iouse 11 

exercise is the most popular avocation, especially when it can be 
taken in company with others and under adequate direction. The 
social center makes these conditions possible. 

N. E. 138. Wisconsin Breeders' Association — Inspecting Guernseys. 
This is a view of a Pure Stock Club connected with a rural com- 
munity center. Practical organization of this kind is a valuable 
function of a community schoolhouse. 

L. 68. East Boston — Social Center Dramatics (School Center). 

There is a growing realization of the possibilities of dramatics 
as a socializing factor. The drama gives opportunity for team 
work of a high order; it develops respect and consideration for 
others, and interests widely divergent groups in a neighborhood. 

Ti. 175. Louisville, Ky. — A Choral Club (Broadway Social Center). 

There are signs of an awakening interest in music in America 
of which a revival of choral singing is not the least in importance. 
Many Indiana towns have "singing schools" which foster community 
music. Rhythm of music and the dance, it is said, is as old as the 
human race and is a powerful force in civilization. The supreme art 
of ancient Greece owed much of its greatness to the perfection of 
physical grace and the appreciation of harmony and rhythm of 
the Grecian people. The most highly developed civilizations of to- 
day have wonderful music and drama fostered by the mass of the 
people. 

L. 58. Detroit, Mich. — Bishop School. 

Addresses, debates, work done by members of the neighborhood 
group are more real and vital than imported attractions and amuse- 
ments. 

L. 52. Detroit Center — Talk by Corporation Counsel. 

The community schoolhouse makes it possible for the voters, the 
citizenship, to discuss intelligently questions of political policy, to 
deliberate on laws and measures for the common good, to formu- 
late and express public opinion, and to enforce the will of the voter 
thru his serva.nt, the official. Civic discussion in the neighbor- 
hood center fosters political intelligence and makes for progress. 

The following views present a few of the ways in which the com- 
munity schoolhouse serves the young women. 

Li. 69. East Boston — Young Women's Civic Club. 

It is significant that New England, the home of the "little red 
schoolhouse" and the "town meeting", should develop most thor- 
oly the social center. It is interesting to note that the communi- 
ty schoolhouse which is keeping alive the old institutions of democ- 
racy is now thrown open to the women. And yet some believe that 
the East will never grant the suffrage to women. Membership in a 
civic club does not give women the suffrage, but it can make them 
^)etter citizens than the average male voter. 



12 Bulletin of the Extension Division 

li. 63. Jersey City — Social Center (Embroidery Club). 

Civic discussion and embroidery seem far apart in the case of 
women; so also do singing and politics in the case of men, and yet 
good citizenship depends not alone on a knowledge of civics and 
politics, but also upon appreciation of the aesthetic, and upon the 
capacity of the group for working together. 

Xi, 53. Detroit Center — Polish Girls (Folk Dancing) . 

Assimilation of immigrants need not mean a loss of old-world 
traditions and customs. The social center may preserve for us the 
l)est customs of Europe. Folk songs and folk dances are linked 
with history and tradition; our adopted citizens should be encour- 
aged to foster them all. 

L(. 176. Louisville, Ky. — Broadway Center (Basketry). 

Girls and women need constructive handwork. The sense of 
power and the feeling of satisfaction which goes with craftsmanship 
must not be withheld from women, as the narrowing of the scope of 
the household occupations renders their work continually more bur- 
densome, routine-like, and barren. Varied handiwork performed in 
company should enrich the daily life of all women. 

L/, 66. Jersey City — Social Center (Choral Singing). 

Richmond, Ind., has developed its musical talent effectively. It 
has established and maintained a large high school orchestra, a 
"People's Symphony Orchestra", a "People's Chorus" of about 200 
voices, and a high school chorus. There are few pleasures as wor- 
thy of support as singing. Choral singing is peculiarly valuable for 
girls and women, because they seldom participate in cooperative 
undertakings — their life is too individual and confined. Commu- 
nity centers are doing much to bring women together for common 
purposes. 

The remaining slides show activities which include the whole neigh- 
borhood in common use of the community schoolhouse. 

Ij. 96. New York City- — Beer Garden and Dance Hall. 

This lantern slide presents a problem the solution of which has 
involved the use of the schoolhouse for dancing. It is argued that 
where dancing is bound to persist efforts must be made to direct it 
into normal channels and a wholesome environment. Even those 
who absolutely disapprove of dancing under any circumstances have 
agreed (in many instances) that it is better to use the schoolhouse 
supervised dance as a corrective rather than allow the vicious dance 
hall to draw unhindered scores of young people into menacing sur- 
roundings. It is believed that substitution is wise; repression 
dangerous. 

li. 73. Chicago Dancing Club (Kinzie Social Center). 

Adequate supervision by parents and teachers, early hours, other 
entertainment besides dancing, elimination of strangers — these are 
the essentials of the successful handling of the neighborhood dance. 



The Community Schoolpiouse 13 

L. 36. Jersey City Center (Dancing at Public School No. 29). 

The problem of chaperonage is usually met by providing enter- 
tainment which will limit the dancing to only a small part of the 
evening program. Special provisions are made for parents and adult 
friends who do not dance. 

No. 178. Louisville, Ky. — School Library Station. 

It is only recently that a book was considered most useful which 
wore out with use. Too many libraries are prison hospitals for 
invalid books — useless because they do not work. The school libra- 
ry in a social center may become one of the livest and most powerful 
forces in a community because the books are at the place where <iU 
the neighborhood gathers. 

Ii. 150. Boston Center Club (Preparing Costumes for a Play). 

Sewing, cooking, woodwork — all kinds of craftsmanship are 
vitalized by the social center, for they are not set tasks of routine 
schoolwork, but free expressions of interest. 

I/. 147. Boston, Mass.- — The United Evening Center Band. 

In cities where social centers have developed extensively they 
usually federate, knitting the neighborhoods of the whole city to- 
gether. At intervals all the neighborhood center organizations meet 
at one place to extend acquaintanceships or to cooperate in a com- 
munity-wide undertaking. 

Ti. 180. Louisville, Ky. — Gymnasium (Auditorium of School). 

This view shows a meeting of delegates, from several social cen- 
ters. Federation of neighborhoods makes for unity of the whole 
community, and comprehensive improvements can be made because 
adequate machinery of cooperation is at hand. 

Jj. 167. New York, N. Y. — Public School No. 41 (Game Room). 

Boys and girls under intelligent supervision learn to play to- 
gether successfully. There is no better way to take children quickly 
and successfully thru the awkward age. Play, if it is to perform 
its true function of training the child for healthful development and 
efficient action, must be consciously fostered and directed by the 
community. Left to themselves, children do not play in a manner 
that gives most pleasure and best results in physical and moral 
development. A child does not learn arithmetic without a teacher, 
nor does it learn team-work with its companions in play unless it 
has a teacher. The directors of play should be the self-made boy or 
girl leader and a competent instructor with thoro preparation, 
able to help leaders and the rest of the children to get the most 
enjoyment and greatest profit from socializing play and games. 

Ij. 155. Lexington, Ky. — Lincoln School Auditorium. 

Formal exercises to serve the same purpose (to give grace, poise, 
manners, adaptability, efficiency) should be subordinate to informal 
play and games. 



14 Bulletin of the Extension Division 

S. A. 4. Indiana Play Festival — Rural School Centers. 

Play festivals, track meets, picnics, and the like are the least 
expensive and most profitable undertakings of a neighborhood. They 
should, however, be inclusive, taking in as many groups as possible, 
and eliminating sectarian and class lines. 

L. 182. Louisville, Ky. — Social Center (Field Day). 

There is scarcely any activity found useful in city social centers 
which has not also been developed in rural schools. The "field day" 
has been one of the best means employed to bring the community to- 
gether. Neighborhood carnivals, pageants, parades, homecoming 
weeks, holiday celebrations, clean-up days, disease prevention days, 
and numerous other devices and occasions have been employed in 
small towns and rural school centers to bring the community mem- 
bers in touch with each other, to widen narrow groups and factions, 
and to weld all groups into one whole. 

The following slides suggest social center possibilities for schools, 
both in the city and country, which are not generously equipped. They 
emphasize, too, the importance of including playgrounds, vacant lots, 
streets, roads — all outdoors — in the program of community center 
activities. 

S. A. 1. Vegetable garden at district 81, (the Elton school). 

S. A. 2. Volley ball at a play festival in the country. 

S. A. 3. Little equipment is necessary; the chief thing is the oc- 
casion. 

S. A. 5. The expensive running tracks are not necessary in order to 
have a successful play field. 

S. A. 6. An athletic field day in a country town. The roadway serves 
the purpose of a running track very well. 

S. A. 7. Rockford, 111. — Outdoor art at the Freeman school. 

S. A. 8. Flower garden in August at the Elton school. 

S. A. 9. The village schoolyard offers possibilities for much fun for 
little money. 

S. A. 10. A planting plan used by a school garden club. 

S. A. 11. The day nursery at a country play festival. 

S. A. 12. Entrance blank to the annual field day and play picnic of 
the country schools of Ulster county, N. Y. 

S. A. 13. Under the sheltering trees of a country road leading to a 
schoolhouse. 

S. A. 14. Getting ready for a field day in the district school. 

S. A. 15. Country schoolhouse (2 slides) before and after social cen- 
ter organization. 

S. A. 16. Bloomington, Ind. — Playground of McCalla school (2 
slides) . 

S. A. 20. Cleveland Home Gardening Association — A public school 
front yard improved. 

S. A. 21. Cleveland (Before organization of neighborhood centers). 

S. A. 22. Cleveland (After organization of neighborhood centers). 

S. A. 23. Cleveland — Bolton public school. 



The Community Sciioolhouse 15 

S. A. 2-i. Boston — Charlesbank gymnasium (A chance group). 

S. A. 25. Chicago' — Expensive playground apparatus. 

S. A. 36. New York City public school (Kindergarten group in 

yard). 
S. A. 27. Chicago vacation school work (Results of modeling). 
S. A. 28. Chicago vacation schools (Natural history class in the 

woods). 
S. A. 29. Chicago vacation schools (Children in the fields). 

It is well to end a discourse on the community center with a state- 
ment which seeks to sum up the deep significance of the movement. 
President Wilson has said with reference to the social center move- 
ment: "No man can calculate the courses of genius, no man can fore- 
tell the leadership of nations. And so we must see to it that the bot- 
tom is left open, we must see to it that the soil of common feeling of 
the common consciousness is always fertile and unclogged, for there 
can be no fruit unless the roots touch the rich sources of life. And it 
seems to me tliat the schoolhouses dotted here, there, and everywhere, 
over the great expanse of this nation, will some day prove to be the 
roots of that great tree of liberty which shall spread for the sustenance 
and protection of all mankind." 

Clarence Arthur Perry says: "A sciioolhouse grows into a social 
center at the same rate as the neighborhood activities occurring in it 
increase in range and frequency. The most effective line of action is 
that of showing a hospitable — even inviting — attitude toward the life 
just outside." 



Suggestions for Study 



Definition of Community Center. A community center is a place 
of organization for the promotion of unity in the neigliborhood and 
efficiency in the widest field of citizenship. 

"A community center is both an idea and a device. As an idea it 
means community fraternalism. As a device it may enable a com- 
munity to know itself, its problems, and something about their solu- 
tion." — R. v. Phelan, University of Minnesota. 

"A social center is a place where people can come together on a 
basis of absolute equality for the promotion of those things in which 
all have a common interest; a place where the people of a neighbor- 
hood or community can meet for recreation, entertainment, or in- 
struction, and for the discussion of the problems of individual, munic- 
ipal, and national life."^ — From pamphlet issued by the South Bend 
Chamber of Commerce. 

"The social center has come, making the schoolhouse the place plus 
the leader. It is an institution which aims not only to supplant the 
dive-keeper, the dance-hall proprietor, and the corrupt political boss, 
but to furnish also that initiative and stimulus which will connect 
unattached musicians with musical clubs, help dramatic aspirants to 
find a means of expression, bring the lonely into friendly groups, or- 
ganize forums for the clarification of community questions, and, in 
fine, do any service whereby Society is strengthened in its ability to 
give opportunity to tlie Individual." — Clarence A. Perry. 

"The community center is an ideal, an institution, and a method of 
approach to the social problem. Its foundation is local democracy and 
economic self-support, partial but progressive. -It ministers to the 
whole community." — From the 1915 announcements of the New York 
Training School. 

Origin of the Social Center. The social center movement is to some 
extent a reinstatement of the school in the position it held during the 
rural expansion of seventy years ago when the schoolhouse was used 
informally by the whole community. 

The present movement received its first marked impulse in the 
definite and comprehensive experiment of the School Extension Com- 
mittee of Rochester, N. Y., begun in 1907. 

Some writers have gone back to the agora and hjceum of the 
Greeks, the forum of Rome, the Landsgemelnde of Switzerland, the 
toicn meethio of New England, and other historical institutions to dis- 
cover sources of the modern community center idea. 

Various recent movements such as evening schools, vacation 
schools, playgrounds, parent- teacher associations, settlements, numer- 
ous other civic undertakings, public lecture systems, and university 
extension are part and parcel of the community center movement and 
in a sense its progenitors. 

(16-) 



The Community Schoolpiouse 17 

The Need of Oomiuunity Centers. Urban growth necessitates the 
expansion of existing institutions or the creation of new ones to meet 
the new conditions. The shift of population to cities from rural dis- 
tricts and foreign countries presents a problem of readjustment urgent- 
ly demanding solution. 

Responsible neighborhood spirit should be fostered as a counter 
to the irresponsibility of separate groups. 

Public discussion is essential to efficient democracy. Civic energy 
must be organized. 

The strain of modern life must be met by adequate means of relax- 
ation. Play, recreation, entertainment, amusement should not be left 
to unrestricted commercialization but should be made functions of a 
community institution. 

Public education should not be restricted to formal instruction of 
the small percentage of children who attend school. Education in a 
democracy should eventually be inclusive and continuous. 

Specific Functions and Activities of Centers. Provision for whole- 
some amusement, elevated entertainment, organized play and recrea- 
tion for adults as well as children includes, in existing centers, read- 
ing-rooms, art exhibits, inspirational addresses, concerts, recitals, 
drama readings, story-telling, motion pictures, directed play and games, 
physical training, athletic contests and exhibitions, folk dancing, ban- 
quets, and general social occasions of endless variety. 

Provision for broad education for adults and children in and out 
of school includes informal classroom instruction, illustrated lectures, 
informational talks and addresses, shop work, basketry, millinery and 
vocational training of many kinds, besides many other activities which 
have a socializing influence. 

Provision for civic development includes orations, debates, politi- 
cal speeches, conferences on welfare subjects, institutes, public dis- 
cussion of the widest latitude, besides organization for "a clean city", 
beautification, disease prevention, and numerous activities which react 
to improve local self-government and democratic citizenship as a 
whole. 

Provision for improvement of the economic status of members of 
the center group may include cooperative buying, employment agen- 
cies, vocational guidance, etc., besides various activities which secure 
better service from city departments, public utilities, and private con- 
cerns. 

Moreover, in so far as center activities make for fuller, richer, 
saner, and more efficient neighborhood life, just so much greater is the 
economic gain to the community. 

Principles of Foundation. The type of social center developed orig- 
inally in Rochester, N. Y., was based on the principle of self-govern- 
ment. The activities were chiefly social and civic. 

The principle of economic self-support is recognized in New York 
City and elsewhere. Local revenue need not exclude gifts nor taxes 
(school board support) but may advantageously become more and 
more the predominate factor in maintenance. 



18 Bulletin of the Extension Division 

It is contended that real self-government requires some measure of 
local fiscal control. 

The development of sources of local revenue as an economic basis 
for the community center may make possible unlimited expansion of 
the movement. The center may become the nucleus not only of the 
usual social and civic activities but of new experiments in the uses 
of leisure and even of producers' and consumers' co(»perative organ- 
izations. 

Organization of Community Centers, The form of organization 
varies with the nature of the community. A small town with one or 
two schools should usually have one community center organization 
which takes in the whole town and as much of the rural district as 
possible. In larger cities the inclusive organization is limited to school 
districts except thru federation with others in the city. The feder- 
ation reaches out into the rural districts. 

Various clubs with specific aims of value to the community may be 
dependent on the central organization, but are frequently distinct and 
free from restrictions other than those imposed by school or city 
authority. 

Self-government and financial autonomy have in some cases been 
complete both in the inclusive central organization and the independ- 
ent clubs, subject to final authority as to minor details of the use of 
the school plant. 

The extent of domination by school boards varies largely with the 
character of the boards. In some cities it includes absolute control 
from the hiring of directors to the prescribing of topics of discussion. 
In other cities the civil city has succeeded in securing largei privileges 
from the schools, including practically free administration of all the 
social center activities. 

Paid secretaries and directors are indispensable to successful com- 
munity centers. In the selection of these officers the tendency is to 
consider their special qualifications just as in the case of a school 
principal who is appointed to perform specific duties during the regular 
school day. A school principal in some cases is well fitted for civic 
secretaryship or for general directorship of a social center. Certainly 
it would be well if all principals and teachers could have their pro- 
fession raised above the comparatively limited field of formal in- 
struction. 

Funds for the central organization are raised in many different 
ways, from appropriations to private^ subscription and endowment. It 
is important, however, that the central organization does not impose 
membership fees or collect dues; no one in the community should be 
excluded because of failure to contribute. Active membership with 
power to vote is usually limited to members who formally register. 

"Above all else be sure to get the right person to supervise your 
social centers. They will be a community asset or a community calam- 
ity according as they are wisely or unwisely a^dministered. In this 
work, limiting the expenditure for supervision instead of curtailing of 
equipment is the worst kind of economy. Indeed, if a competent super- 



The Community Schoolhouse 19 

visor cannot be secured from the outset, it is preferable to delay the 
undertaking until such time as one can be had." — Lee P. Hanmer, of 
the Russell Sage Foundation. 

Indiana School Law (1913). Section 1 provides that schools shall 
be opened to social center activities upon petition of one-half the 
voters residing within two miles of the schoolhouse. 

Sections 2 and 3 provide that the school authorities shall provide, 
free of charge, light, heat, and janitor service for the use of neigh- 
borhood organizations. 

There are some restrictions Imposed, and the boards or other school 
authorities have considerable discretionary powers. 

• Community Center Buildings. Schoolhouses will probably be more 
and more used as community centers especially as the architecture and 
equipment change to meet the requirements of a broadening educa- 
tional policy. Other meeting places have been successfully utilized for 
social centers because of their availability or because of the opposi- 
tion of school authorities — th§ town hall, city hall, courthouse, fire 
engine houses, municipal warehouses, park buildings, public libraries, 
churches, and rented halls. 

In several small cities in Indiana social center organizations and 
welfare clubs have erected buildings for community activities. In 
large cities various organizations are making efforts to plan neighbor- 
hood centers, determining beforehand the nature and architecture of 
the various buildings such as the postofSce, library, school, theatres, 
stores, etc., and arranging for social center space and equipment in 
one or more of the buildings. 

Results of Conununity Center Activities. The neighborhood or 
community organization which is inclusive, liberal, and permanent 
should get all the people together to work for the common good. It 
should tend to remove the isolation which is an increasingly tlireaten- 
ing characteristic of city life and the influence of which is destructively 
felt in small towns and remote rural districts. 

Thru continuous contact of individuals and groups there should 
come increased toleration, understanding, and sympathy. 

The essentially inclusive character of the institution should reju- 
venate ideals of social equality and democracy. 

The free discussion of political and social problems should mean 
more intelligent voting on the part of citizens and greater deliberation 
and consequent efficiency of councilmen, legislators, and administrative 
officers. 

The wide variety of activities in the center should enrich the 
physical, intellectual, and moral life of the community. 

Finally, the community center should mean "a central conscious- 
ness, intelligence, and force", a unified, efficient community spirit. 



Bibliography 



The books and articles listed below do not constitute an exhaustive 
bibliography. They are selected because of their usefulness as practi- 
cal aids and because of their accessibility. 

BOOKS 

Perry, C. A. Wider Use of the School Plant. New York. Survey 

Associates, 105 E. Twenty-second st. $1.25. 
Ward, E. J. The Social Center. Appleton. $1.50. 
Butterfield, K. L. Rural School and the Community (chapter one. 

Rural Progress, p. 121). University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. $1.00. 
King, I. Social Aspects of Education. Macmillan. $1.60. 
Johnson, G. E. Education by Play and Games. Ginn & Co., 1907. 

$0.90. 
Grice, M. V. Home and School United in Widening Circles of Inspira- 
tion and Service. Sower, 1909. $0.60. 
Johnston, C. H. The Modern High School (contains a bibliography). 

C. Scribner's Sons, 1914. $1.75. 
Robbins, E. C. The High School Debate Book. Chicago. A. C. Mc- 

Clurg & Co., 1911. 
Curtis, Henry S. Play and Recreation in the Open Country. Boston. 

Ginn & Co., 1914. $1.25. 
Lee, Joseph. Play in Education, New York. Macmillan Co., 1915. 

$1.50. 
Roberts, Kate Louise. Club Women's Handbook of Programs and 

Club Management. New York City. Funk & Wagnalls Co. 354 

Fourth ave. $0.75. 
Dewey, John. The School and Society. University of Chicago Press. 

Chicago, III. $1.00. 

PAMPHLETS 

Bureau of Public Discussion. Package Library on Social Centers. 
Lent free except return express. Extension Division, Indiana Un- 
iversity, Bloomington, Ind. 
Perry, C. A. Social Center pamphlets: 

R. 136, Sources of Information on Play and Recreation, 1915. 

10 cents. 
R. 123, R. 119, R. 104, R. 87, R. 85, R. 83. 5 cents each. 
R. 125, How to Start Social Centers. 10 cents. 
R. 120, Social Center Features in Elementary School Architecture. 

25 cents. 
R. 143, Recreation Survey in Springfield. 25 cents. 

A number of other pamphlets on General Recreation, Athletics, 
Festivals, and Folk Dancing by Gulick, Hanmer, Knight, are pub- 

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The Community Schoolhouse 21 

lished by the department of recreation of the Russell Sage Foun- 
dation, 400 Metropolitan Tower, New York City. 

Childs, C. S. A Year's Experiment in Social Center Organization, and 
Account of Activities conducted in School 63, Manhattan. Printed 
by New York Social Center Committee, 311 Madison ave.. New 
York City. 

Phelan, R. V. Community Centers. Bulletin containing suggestions 
on organization. Bulletin of the University of Minnesota.. General 
Series 2 5. January, 1915. 10 cents. 

Chamber of Commerce. South Bend School Buildings as Social Cen- 
ters. South Bend, Ind. 

Bibliography of the City and Rural Schools as Community Centers. 
U. 3. Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. 

Bureau of Civic and Social Center Development. Seventeen bulletins 
by E. J. Ward, Walter T. Sumner, Woodrow Wilson, and others. 
University Extension Division, Madison, Wis. 

Suzzallo, H. School as a Social Institution. Houghton, Mifflin Co., 
Cambridge, Mass. 35 cents. 

Edwards, G. H. The School as a Social Center. Bulletin No. 35, 
1913. University of South Carolina, Columbia, S. C. 

Edwards, R. H. Public Recreation. Bulletin University of Wiscon- 
sin. 1915. Extension Division, Madison, Wis. $1.00. 

PERIODICALS 

Psychology of Relaxation. G. T. W. Patrick, in Popular Science, 

84:590-604 (June, 1914). 
Sociology of Recreation. J. L. Gillin, in American Journal of Sociol- 
ogy, 19:825-34 (May, 1914). 
Increased Use of Public School Property. T. J. Riley, in American 

Journal of Sociology, 11:655-62 (March, 1906). 
Why Recreation in the Schoolhouse? C. A. Perry, in Conference of 

Charities and Correction for 1914, pp. 382-93. 
Civic Secretaryship as Public Service. In National Municipal Review, 

3:756-60 (October, 1914). 
Organizing Social Center Work under Paid Secretaries. Survey, 

32:490 (August 8, 1914). 
Social Centers for Women. Spencer, in American City, 10:352-4 

(April, 1914). 
Social Life in the Country. In World's Work, 27:615 (April, 1914). 
Educational Extension thru the Rural Social Center. H. S. Curtis, in 

Education, 34:28 3-94 (January, 1914). 
America's Foremost City. G. Creel, in Harper's Weekly, 59:495-7 

(November 21, 1914). 
Building a Civic Center Around a Tri-city High School. G. Taylor, 

in Survey, 33:65-6 (October 17, 1914). 
Where Suffragists and Anti's Unite. E. J. Ward, in American City, 

10:519-24 (June, 1914). 
Progress in Louisville Social Centers. G. Witherspoon, in Conference 

of Charities and Correction for 1914, pp. 395-7. 



22 Bulletin of the Extension Division 

Self-government for School Social Centers. In Survey, 34:3 (April 
3, 1915). 

Neighorhood Center Competition. In Survey, 32:392 (July 11, 1914). 

Training of the Physical Educator and Play Director. C. W. Hether- 
ington, in Educational Review, 48:241-53 (October, 1914). 

Social Service of a (Uty School. J. Spargo, in Craftsman, 10:605-13 
(August, 1906). 

Use of School Buildings for Other than School Purposes. D. Mowry, 
in Education, 29:92-6 (October, 1908). 

Our Public Schools as Social Centers. M. J. Mayer, in Review of Re- 
views, 44: 201-8 (August, 1911). 

Extension of Public School Privileges: A Symposium. In National 
Education Association for 1904, pp. 373-83. 

Ideas on social center programs may be obtained by writing to 
various boards of education (Indianapolis, South Bend, New York 
City, Chicago, Milwaukee, Rochester, N. Y., Detroit, Louisville, Los 
Angeles) asking for their reports on recreational and social activities 
in the schools. 

For suggestions on methods of starting community centers and 
perfecting the organization, for model constitutions, model programs, 
lists of subjects for discussion, and for speakers apply to the Extension 
Division of Indiana University. 



Address all communications toi the 

Extension Division, Indiana University, 

Bloomington, Ind. 



Extension Division Publications 



Unless a price is stated publications are free. Where publications are marked with an asterisk 
(*) reduced rates aie made for purchases in quantity. A limited number of copies of publications 
marked with a dagger (t) are distributed free of charge to citizens of Indiana. 



Circulars of Information — 

Visual Instruction: Second Loan Exhibit of Pictures. 
Visual Instruction: Third Loan Exhibit of Pictures. 
Club-Study: Departments and Courses of Study. 
Extension Lectures: A List of Speakers and Subjects. 
Community Institutes: Explanation and Suggested Programs. 
Community Institutes: Method of Organization. 
Public Discussion: Package Libraries. 
Public Discussion: Debates. 
Visual Instruction Equipment. 

Bulletin's — ■ 

Proceedings of a Conference (First) on Taxation in Indiana 

(1914) 50c 

Proceedings of a Conference (Second) on Taxation in Indiana 

(1915) 25c 

Public Discussion Manual for Civic Discussion Clubs. 

*Proceedings of a Conference on the Question "Shall a Consti- 
tutional Convention be Called in Indiana?" 25c 

Proceedings of a Conference (First) on Educational Measure- 
ments, 1914. (Out of print.) 
t Proceedings of a Conference (Second) on Educational Meas- 
urements, 1915 . 50c 

Public Discussion: State High School Discussion League 
(County Government), 1914-15. 

Public Discussion: State High School Discussion League 
(Municipal Home Rule), 1915-16. 

A Manual of Pageantry. By Robert Withington, Ph.D. 

Extension Division Announcements, 1915-16. 

History Consultation Service. 

History Teaching in the Secondary Schools: A Conference 
held at Gary, Ind. (Out of print.) 
•(-Proceedings of the Indiana Newspaper Conference (1915)... 25c 

Correspondence-Study, 1915. 

Lantern Slides: Rules for Borrowing, Catalog, and Sugges- 
tions for Use. 

Miscellaneous — 

An Outline for the Study of Current Political, Economic, and 

Social Problems 15c 

^Readings in Indiana History Paper, 50c, Cloth, 70c 

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